Pregnancy Discrimination in the Workplace free essay sample

Tonight I would like to talk to you about the obstacles faced by pregnant women in the workplace. I will talk about the barriers we face today, as well as those which women of the past had to overcome to be successful working mothers. The laws that protect pregnant women today are something expectant mothers of the past dreamed of as they faced discrimination in the forms of demotion, forced unpaid leave and more. Before 1978, women who became pregnant while employed had a lot more than their health to be concerned about. There were no laws in place to help protect them from discrimination. In those days, pregnancy was considered a disability. Many women were simply fired the moment their employer found out about their condition. In some cases, women were forced to resign as soon as their baby belly began to show, or at the end of the first trimester of pregnancy. We will write a custom essay sample on Pregnancy Discrimination in the Workplace or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page These occurrences were especially common in physically demanding positions. Employers were not required to provide special accommodations, such as lifting limits and restroom breaks, to mommies-to-be. These facts led to many women struggling to support themselves and their families. Some women were refused work altogether. Denial of medical leave was not uncommon, either. Women were left without health insurance and other benefits, or were even charged extra for certain services. Returning to work after taking leave was an extremely rare instance among new mothers in these days. However, in 1978, US Congress introduced the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. This newly passed law became an important aspect of civil rights. It requires employers to provide pregnant women with the same respect and consideration as other workers with medical issues. It regulates hiring/firing procedures, ensuring women that work will be available to them as long as they are healthy and able to perform their basic job functions.

The Logic of Collective Action by Mancur Olson

The Logic of Collective Action by Mancur Olson There are a lot of government policies, like airline bailouts, that from an economic perspective dont make any sense at all. Politicians have an incentive to keep the economy strong as incumbents are reelected at a much higher rate during booms than busts. So why do so many government policies make such little economic sense? The best answer to this question comes from a book that is almost 40 years old: The Logic of Collective Action by Mancur Olson explains why some groups are able to have a larger influence on government policy than others. In this brief outline, the results of The Logic of Collective Action are used to explain economic policy decisions. Any page references come from the 1971 edition. It has a very useful appendix not found in the 1965 edition. You would expect that if a group of people has a common interest that theyll naturally get together and fight for the common goal. Olson states, however, that this is generally not the case: But it is not in fact true that the idea that groups will act in their self-interest follows logically from the premise of rational and self-interested behavior. It does not follow, because all of the individuals in a group would gain if they achieved their group objective, that they would act to achieve that objective, even if they were all rational and self-interested. Indeed unless the number of individuals in a group is quite small, or unless there is coercion or some other special device to make individuals act in their common interest, rational, self-interested individuals will not act to achieve their common or group interests.(pg. 2) We can see why this is if we look at the classic example of perfect competition. Under perfect competition, there is a very large number of producers of an identical good. Since the goods are identical, all firms end up charging the same price, a price that leads to a zero economic profit. If the firms could collude and decide to cut their output and charge a price higher than the one that prevails under perfect competition all firms would make a profit. Although every firm in the industry would gain if they could make such an agreement, Olson explains why this does not happen: Since a uniform price must prevail in such a market, a firm cannot expect a higher price for itself unless all of the other firms in the industry have this higher price. But a firm in a competitive market also has an interest in selling as much as it can, until the cost of producing another unit exceeds the price of that unit. In this there is no common interest; each firms interest is directly opposed to that of every other firm, for the more the firms sell, the lower the price and income for any given firm. In short, while all firms have a common interest in a higher price, they have antagonistic interests where output is concerned.(pg. 9) The logical solution around this problem would be to lobby congress to put in place a price floor, stating that producers of this good cannot charge a price lower than some price X. Another way around the problem would be to have congress pass a law stating that there was a limit to how much each business could produce and that new businesses could not enter the market. Well see on the next page that The Logic of Collective Action explains why this will not work either. The Logic of Collective Action explains why if a group of firms cannot reach a collusive agreement in the marketplace, they will be unable to form a group and lobby the government for help: Consider a hypothetical, competitive industry, and suppose that most of the producers in that industry desire a tariff, a price-support program, or some other government intervention to increase the price for their product. To obtain any such assistance from the government, the producers in this industry will presumably have to organize a lobbying organization... The campaign will take the time of some of the producers in the industry, as well as their money. Just as it was not rational for a particular producer to restrict his output in order that there might be a higher price for the product of his industry, so it would not be rational for him to sacrifice his time and money to support a lobbying organization to obtain government assistance for the industry. In neither case would it be in the interest of the individual producer to assume any of the costs himself. [...] This would be true even if everyone in the industry were absolutely convinced that the proposed program was in their interest.(pg. 11) In both instances, groups will not be formed  because the groups cannot exclude people from benefiting if they do not join the cartel or lobbying organization. In a perfect competitive marketplace, the level of production of any one producer has a negligible impact of the market price of that good. A cartel will not be formed because every agent within the cartel has an incentive to drop out of the cartel and produce as much as she possibly can, as her production will not cause the price to drop at all. Similarly, each producer of the good has an incentive not to pay dues to the lobbying organization, as the loss of one dues paying member will not influence the success or failure of that organization. One extra member in a lobbying organization representing a very large group will not determine whether or not that group will get a piece of legislation enacted that will help the industry. Since the benefits of that legislation cannot be limited to those firms in the lobbying group, there is no reason for that firm to join. Olson indicates that this is the norm for very large groups: Migrant farm laborers are a significant group with urgent common interests, and they have no lobby to voice their needs. The white-collar workers are a large group with common interests, but they have no organization to care for their interests. The taxpayers are a vast group with an obvious common interest, but in an important sense they have yet to obtain representation. The consumers are at least as numerous as any other group in the society, but they have no organization to countervail the power of organized monopolistic producers. There are multitudes with an interest in peace, but they have no lobby to match those of the special interests that may on occasion have an interest in war. There are vast numbers who have a common interest in preventing inflation and depression, but they have no organization to express that interest. (pg. 165) In a smaller group, one person makes up a larger percentage of the resources of that group, so the addition or subtraction of a single member to that organization can determine the success of the group. There are also social pressures which work much better on the small than on the large. Olson gives two reasons why large groups are inherently unsuccessful in their attempts to organize: In general, social pressure and social incentives operate only in groups of smaller size, in the groups so small that the members can have face-to-face contact with one another. Though in an oligopolic industry with only a handful of firms there may be strong resentment against the chiseler who cuts prices to increase his own sales at the expense of the group, in a perfectly competitive industry there is usually no such resentment; indeed the man who succeeds in increasing his sales and output in a perfectly competitive industry is usually admired and set up as a good example by his competitors. There are perhaps two reasons for this difference in the attitudes of large and small groups. First, in the large, latent group, each member, by definition, is so small in relation to the total that his actions will not matter much one way or another; so it would seem pointless for one perfect competitor to snub or abuse another for a selfish, antigroup action, because the recalcitrants action would not be decisive in any event. Second, in any large group everyone cannot possibly know everyone else, and the group will ipso facto not be a friendship group; so a person will ordinarily not be affected socially if he fails to make sacrifices on behalf of his groups goals.(pg. 62) Because smaller groups can exert these social (as well as economic) pressures, they are much more able to get around this problem. This leads to the result that smaller groups (or what some would call Special Interest Groups) are able to have policies enacted that hurt the country as a whole. In the sharing of the costs of efforts to achieve a common goal in small groups, there is however a surprising tendency for the exploitation of the great by the small.(pg. 3). Now that we know that smaller groups will generally be more successful than large ones, we understand why the government enacts many of the policies it does. To illustrate how this works, well use a made-up example of such a policy. Its a very drastic over-simplification, but its not that far out. Suppose there are four major airlines in the United States, each of whom is near bankruptcy. The CEO of one of the airlines realizes that they can get out of bankruptcy by lobbying the government for support. He can convince the 3 other airlines to go along with the plan, as they realize that theyll be more successful if they band together and if one of the airlines does not participate a number of lobbying resources will be greatly diminished along with the credibility of their argument. The airlines pool their resources and hire a high-priced lobbying firm along with a handful of unprincipled economists. The airlines explain to the government that without a $400 million dollar package they will not be able to survive. If they do not survive, there will be terrible consequences for the economy, so its in the best interest of the government to give them the money. The congresswoman listening to the argument finds it compelling, but she also recognizes a self-serving argument when she hears one. So shed like to hear from groups opposing the move. However, its obvious that such a group will not form, for the following reason: The $400 million dollars represents around $1.50 for each person living in America. Now obviously many of those individuals do not pay taxes, so well assume that it represents $4 for each tax-paying American (this assumes everyone pays the same amount in taxes which again is an over-simplification). Its obvious to see that its not worth the time and effort for any American to educate themselves about the issue, solicit donations for their cause and lobby to congress if theyd only gain a few dollars. So other than a few academic economists and think tanks, nobody opposes the measure, and it is enacted by congress. By this, we see that a small group is inherently at an advantage against a larger group. Although in total the amount at stake is the same for each group, the individual members of the small group have much more at stake than the individual members of the large group, so they have an incentive to spend more time and energy trying to change government policy. If these transfers just caused one group to gain at the others expense, it wouldnt hurt the economy at all. It wouldnt be any different than someone just handing you $10; youve gained $10 and that person lost $10, and the economy as a whole has the same value it had before. However, it does cause a decline in the economy for two reasons: The cost of lobbying. Lobbying is inherently a non-productive activity for the economy. The resources spent on lobbying are resources that are not being spent on creating wealth, so the economy is poorer as a whole. The money spent on lobbying could have been spent buying a new 747, so the economy as a whole is one 747 poorer.The deadweight loss caused by taxation. In the article The Effect of Taxes on the Economy, its illustrated that higher taxes causes productivity to decline and the economy to be worse off. Here the government was taking $4 from each taxpayer, which is not a significant amount. However, the government enacts hundreds of these policies so in total the sum becomes quite significant. These handouts to small groups cause a decline in economic growth because they change the actions of taxpayers.

7 Things to Do the Summer Before Starting Graduate School

7 Things to Do the Summer Before Starting Graduate School Starting graduate school this fall? Like most soon-to-be grad students you’re probably both excited and anxious for classes to begin. What should you do between now and the beginning of your first semester as a graduate student? Relax Although you may be tempted to read ahead and get an early start on your studies, you should make time to relax. You’ve spent years working to get through college and make it into graduate school. You’re about to spend more years in graduate school and face more challenges and higher expectations than you encountered in college. Avoid burnout before the semester even begins. Take time off to relax or you may find yourself fried by October. Try Not to Work This may not be possible for most students, but remember that is the last summer that you will be free from academic responsibilities. Graduate students work during the summer. They do research, work with their advisor, and perhaps teach summer classes. If you can, take the summer off from work. Or at least cut back on your hours. If you must work, make as much downtime as you can. Consider leaving your job, or if you plan to continue working during the school year, consider taking a vacation two to three weeks before the semester starts. Do whatever is necessary to begin the semester refreshed rather than burned out. Read for Fun Come fall, you’ll have little to no time to read for pleasure. When you have some time off, you’ll probably find that you don’t want to read as that’s how you’ll spend large chunks of your time. Get to Know Your New City If you are moving to attend grad school, consider moving earlier in the summer. Give yourself time to learn about your new home. Discover grocery stores, banks, places to eat, study, and where to grab coffee. Get comfortable in your new home before the whirlwind start of the semester. Something as simple as having all of your belongings stored away and being able to easily find them will reduce your stress and make it easier to start fresh. Get to Know Your Classmates Most incoming cohorts of graduate students have some means of getting in contact with each other, whether through an email list, Facebook group, LinkedIn group, or some other means. Take advantages of these opportunities, should they arise. Interactions with your classmates are an important part of your grad school experience. You’ll study together, collaborate on research, and eventually be professional contacts after graduation. These personal and professional relationships can last your entire career. Clean up Your Social Profiles If you haven’t done so prior to applying to graduate school, make some time to review your social media profiles. Are they set to Private? Do they present you in a positive, professional light? Ditch the college partying pics and posts with profanity. Clean up your Twitter profile and tweets as well. Anyone who works with you is likely to Google you. Don’t let them find material that makes them question your judgment. Keep Your Mind Agile: Prep a Little The key word is little. Read a few of your advisor’s papers- not everything. If you haven’t been matched with an advisor, read a bit about faculty members whose work interests you. Do not burn yourself out. Read a little simply to keep your mind active. Do not study. Also, keep an eye out for topics that interest you. Note a stimulating newspaper article or website. Don’t try to come up with a thesis, but simply note topics and ideas that intrigue you. Once the semester starts and you make contact with an advisor, you can sort through your ideas. Over the summer your goal should simply be to remain an active thinker. Overall, consider the summer before graduate school as a time to recharge and rest. Emotionally and mentally prepare yourself for the amazing experience to come. There will be plenty of time to work and you’ll face many responsibilities and expectations once graduate school begins. Take as much time off as you can- and have fun.

Prepare a report for a small business whose owners are considring the Coursework

Prepare a report for a small business whose owners are considring the introduction of a computer network - Coursework Example However, it should be noted that using LAN might have some disadvantage. As the business grows, it will be observed that the range in which LAN is applicable might hinder its effectiveness. This is because LAN connections are only capable of operating in a local area, which in most cases is within a single building. Essentially, this form of connection will only apply to a handful of clients. In most cases, LAN has always been observed to be slow thus inappropriate for a situation where a person wants to use it to enhance faster sharing of information, data, applications, and equipment. Thus, the speed of this network connection is an outstanding challenge. There are a number of equipment’s that will be needed in order for John to set up the new network. He will need twisted wires fitted with RJ-45 plug at the end. A network switch will be important in transmission of data from one device to another in the office. They will also need Midspans and splitters, which will be important in enabling the network to support Power over Ethernet. Power over Ethernet enables a network to use the same cable used in data transfer in supplying power to devices. They will also need network adaptors for connecting devices to the network. Routers will be needed to enable connection to multiple devices. The one advantage that the business can get by using a wireless network is that it encourages high levels of mobility (Columbus 2001, P. 123). This will specifically be important when Edward, the accountant comes to review their accounts. The business office will have a neater environment because there is no need for the many cables that are required for wired cables. However, as Fitzgerald & Dennis (2009) argue, a wireless network might be a little bit more costly because it requires more equipment. It is believed to be a relatively cheap network connection that requires minimal hassle in the process of setting up. The infrastructure used for this

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 26

Economics - Essay Example In some cases, financial models may also quantify the financial impact of the policies of the firm, and of covenants or restrictions imposed by lenders or investors. A cash budget is a basic financial model. The engineering consulting firm generates a stream of $48,000 in monthly revenue for the first year from six customers, two per partner. A lot of time is spent on travels, about 30 trips per partner, in a year at a cost of $2,000 per trip. Every partner buys a new computer and updates software for $5000 per year. The firm looks forward to expanding to four customers per partner by the third year with assumed monthly revenue of $3000. The financial model is the gold standard for valuation. Cash budget and cash flow have been indicated as the best proxy for financial performance of corporate. The above financial model is easy to build just like cash flow. One column holds annual cash flow estimates, and rows hold individual itemized expenses. The models states yearly estimates depending on the firm’s revenue generation. In the case of existing growth rates, one can create bulk estimates that apply the same rate of growth for the five years. It is significant to note that sophisticated or detailed modeling does not substitute discretion or judgment. Reality checks will be conducted periodically concerning the core assumptions. The financial model illustrates what the firm must do in order to grow, the value of the growth, and what is expected of the firm. Financial models, even though take time to build, can pay for the consumed time and result into better investment

WorkBook Exercise Essay Example for Free

WorkBook Exercise Essay 1. What demographic variables were measured at least at the interval level of measurement? Education, Marital status, type of feeding, amount of household and infant care responsibilities. 2. What statistics were used to describe the length of labor in this study? Were these appropriate? Hours. These are appropriate because they are the standard. 3. What other statistic could have been used to describe the length of labor? Provide a rationale for your answer. Minutes could have been used instead for more precise data. Days would be to general. 4. Were the distributions of scores similar for the experimental and control groups for the length of labor? Provide a rationale for your answer. I believe that they are similar as they are only a three hours difference. 5. Were the experimental and control groups similar in their type of feeding? Provide a rationale for your answer. The experimental and control groups were very similar in their type of feeding because they were only +/- 2 in each sub-category. 6. What was the marital status mode for the subjects in the experimental and control groups? Provide both the frequency and percentage for the marital status mode for both groups. The marital status mode is separated/divorced. Frequency and percentage for separated/divorced in experimental group: 1, 3.1% Frequency and percentage for separated/divorced in controlled group: 1, 2.8% 7. Could a median be determined for the education data? If so, what would the median be for education for the experimental and the control groups? Provide a rationale for your answer. Yes, a median can be determined for the education data. Experimental: 11, Some college Controlled: 13, College graduate or higher The median is the middle number for a sequence of numbers. 8. Can the findings from this study be generalized to Black women? Provide a rationale for your answer. No, the majority of the statistics were for white females. 9. If there were 32 subjects in the experimental group and 36 subjects in the control group, why is the income data only reported for 30 subjects in the experimental group and 34 subjects in the control group? Numbers do not always total 32 for experimental group or 36 for control group because of missing data. 10. Was the sample for this study adequately described? Provide a rationale for your answer. No, the sample for the study only gives majority of the data for white females. The sample also leaves out several large racial groups.

Teacher-Student Interaction Essay -- Persuasive Education Learning Pap

Teacher-Student Interaction Being able to determine what teachers expect from students and what students expect from teachers is the key to creating positive classrooms that work. Teacher-Student interaction is a two way street; The students relate to the teachers, and the teachers relate to the students. If teachers develop and build upon self-esteem and mutual respect within their classrooms, the teachers will achieve positive relationships with the students. Many years ago, power relationships and authority figures in our society were clearly defined. Dad ruled the household; moms and kids complied. Bosses ruled the work-place, and the workers who were brave enough to challenge them would lose their jobs. Within this ranking order students were at the bottom. Students ideas and choices were unimportant, they were not heard. Today, all of this has changed, and every person in this society demands equality. Today we are able to speak up and have our needs and wants recognized. In many cases the college studen t is encouraged and expected to be candid in responding to the teacher's ideas, methods, or words. Teachers have to learn how to sidestep their power and allow student to exercise their own personal power in ways that enhance the classroom atmosphere while at the same time satisfying the students individuality. Teachers must allow the students to contribute to the class group in their own unique ways. A student should be encouraged and given the opportunity to participate in the classroom by voicing his /her ideas in a comfortable and non-pressured classroom. Marc Shachtman, a student from Ohio Oberlin College said, "In a course I took last year a maverick student said he agreed with a supreme court justice's view t... ... to get across, you must first let your message be known. Professors should be able to transmit trust to the students, they should create a comfortable and healthy atmosphere in their classroom by allowing the students to be both reactive and proactive in the classroom. This teacher-student interaction will contribute to a more fulfilling learning experience. Works cited Chenney,Lynne. "P.C:Alive and Entrenched" Lunsford Anfrea and Ruszkiewics John. In the Presence of Others.ed. New York: St. p.113,122 Hooks,Bell. "Keeping Close to Home: Class and education" Lunsford Andrea and John Ru S Ruszdiewics. In the Presence of Others.ed. New York: St. p.89,95 Postman,Neil. "The Word Weavers/The World Makers" Lunsford Andrea and John Ruszdiewics. In the Presence of Others.ed. New York St p.133 Hughes Mearns, Creative Power. New York: Dover Publications, 1958.

Although the public sector

The ability of today’s health care system to provide high quality care to an aging society depends on the resources available to pay for these services. Although the public sector will bear much of the burden of health and long term care costs many of the required future resources will need to come from the elderly themselves, as is the case today. Unless public insurance systems become much more generous in coming years the elderly will bear the costs of many types of uncovered services.Drugs and long term costs will top the list of uncovered services. However, emerging elective procedures, perhaps in die area of gene therapy, and cutting edge diagnostic tools may not be uniformly covered by future insurance programs. Senator George Allen, R-Va. , introduced the Long-Term Care Act of 2005. The legislation, if passed, will make it possible for individuals to use money from their 401 (k) and 403 (b) plans to purchase long-term care in insurance with pretax dollars without penal ty.The Long-Term Care Act is similar to companion legislation introduced in the House by Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. It would allow individuals to use their Individual Retirement account (IRA) pretax dollars without penalty in addition to using their 401 (k) and 403 (b) plans. Allen’s proposal, cosponsored by Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla. , was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The House bill was sent to the House Sub-Committee on Health just this past March. By the year 2030, Medicaid’s nursing home expenditures are expected to reach $130 billion per year.Private long-term care insurance could reduce Medicaid’s future institutional care expenses by more than $40 billion each year, while giving those who are insured alternatives to nursing homes, such as home care, adult day care or foster care and assisted living. The costs of long-term care can be staggering and quickly exhaust even a modest estate. The magnitude of the cost for long-term care is potentially catastrophic to the average American with the median annual income of $52,000.According to a recent market survey, nursing home stays average two and one-half years with an average yearly cost of $55,000 per year or a total of approximately $138,000. It is easy to see how such care could quickly deplete the asset of a household. Four out of 10 people living to age 65 and older will use a nursing home for long-term care and 21% of those will stay for 5 years longer. Many others will use home health care. Depending on the required level of skill, home health care may equal the cost of nursing home care. The Congressional Budget Office has projected long-term care costs will double from 2000 to 2020.Further compounding the situation has been the diminished willingness of the federal and state governments to continue to absorb over fifty-seven percent of the long-term care costs through Medicare and Medicaid. Policy-makers have been seeking and choosing techniques that limit public resp onsibility and financial involvement in favor of transferring more and more costs back to the individual through the private system. A major policy goal is to change public opinion to view long-term care a particular risk and thus the responsibility of the individual rather than that of the government.With such a shift in thinking long-term care insurance would be a component of retirement planning with emphasis on a private-sector solution rather than a public one. Facing the reality of financing long-term care may require a national crisis in which care becomes unavailable or unaffordable. Under such circumstance, there might be a heightened awareness of the need for clear public policy. Policy-makers will have to face the only feasible alternatives to the existing system: full public financing of long-term care funded by tax dollars or greater incentives for private long-term insurance both through group and individual plans.These approaches are far from perfect by to leave the s ystem as it is could mean long-term damage to the economy through the hugely inefficient diversion of money to pay for long term care that we see today. Reference: American Council of Life Insurance (1998). Who will pay for the Baby Boomers’ Long- Term Care Needs? Washington, D. C. : Cynthia E. Conrad & Ann Costello Beam, B. and J. McFadden (1998). Employee Benefits. Detroit: Dearborn. Bell, A. (2001) . â€Å"Group LTC Plans Jump 121% Last Year†. National Underwriter. (http://www. nunnews. com/zrchives/th_archive/2000/-105-01/1200118grouplte. asp).

Veet Promotion Campaign

To better understand the market and shape the key marketing problem, we conducted primary research to find out the general trends of hair removal among women in Singapore. From this we found a significant result of women in Singapore favouring razors over cream due to the main reason convenience. As such, the report seeks to explore different promotional methods that would allow us to help these heavy razor users to overcome their misconceptions of cream being inconvenient and subsequently to trial Veet ® hair removal cream.The promotional campaign incorporates intergrated marketing communications and features efforts including sampling, couponing, talks, and point-of-purchase displays, featured articles on blogs, mobile advertising, trade promotions and tie-in promotions. All in all, we hope that the campaign will successfully expose more consumers to Veet ® hair removal cream samples, convert them into Veet ® users and ultimately increase sales for Veet ® .Our overall ROMI sees a negative figure due to costs incurred from our sampling program but CLV is strong at 107 percent. Section Two: Situation Analysis 2A. Depilatory Industry The depilatories industry in Singapore is a steadily growing one, experiencing a 4% growth in 2009 to reach almost $4 million in total sales. Razors and blades for women are the fastest growing depilatories followed by hair removal creams. Depilatories (or hair removal products that remove hair to the level of the skin) include razors, shavers, creams, bleaches and pre-shaves.Currently, international manufacturers Procter & Gamble (S) Pte Ltd and Reckitt Benckiser (S) Pte Ltd have found dominance in the Singapore depilatories market with their popular brands Gillette and Veet ®  ®. However, with the increasing awareness of epilators (or hair removal products that remove the entire hair from the root), many women in Singapore are also turning to these methods, including the use of wax strips, epilators and lasers. 2B. Com pany & Brand History Company background Veet ® was first launched under the brand name, Neet, in Canada in 1901.It was later bought by Reckitt Benckiser Pte Ltd in 1960 and has since been sold in nearly 200 countries worldwide. Reckitt Benckiser is a British global consumer goods company, making and marketing household, personal and healthcare products. The company’s strategy is to have a highly-focused portfolio concentrating on its 17 Powerbrands which contributes to 62% of its net revenues in 2008. Veet ®  ®, one of its 17 most profitable and recognised brands, has two major products, namely hair removal creams and wax strips. Target marketVeet ®  ®Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s current target market consists of young female professionals and students aged 16 – 35 who are cost-conscious and seek convenience. Some may even be apprehensive of pain. This includes both first-timers who are seeking but have not yet tried hair removal products and also existing users of alternative hair removal products such as shavers and epilators. 2C. Marketing Mix Adopted by Veet ®  ® Veet ® has used the following marketing mix to develop a strong brand recognition, as well as competing for leadership position in the depilatory industry. Product Veet ® promises smooth, glowing skin in just 3 minutes.The hair removal cream/gel works by using an active ingredient to dissolve the hair and the specially designed Perfect Touch spatula enables quick removal of the cream for a smooth and long-lasting finish. The wax strips removes the hair shaft from the root by the mechanical action of removing the strip from the skin, comes in a 20s box. Place Veet ® is mass-marketed to Health & Beauty stores (Watsons, Guardian and Unity) and supermarket chains (NTUC Fairprice, Cold Storage, Shop N Save, Carrefour and Giant). It is also available online via the supermarket chain’s online shopping service. PricePrices of Veet ® ranges from $8. 45 for a 100gram hair remover cre am to $17. 20 for a 150ml hair remover gel. The Veet  ® wax strips (20s) are priced at $12. 90. Promotion In 2007 and 2008, Veet ® organized the Miss Veet ® Standout Challenge which selected 10 finalists to compete for the crowning through their catwalk and Q&A skills where notable personalities including local bloggers were guest judges. Brand Characteristics * Brand image: The product with its use of soothing colours and graphics of nature communicates an image of natural well being which appeals to the brand’s core customers – women. Brand personality: Veet ® relates to the personality of elegant, sensual, graceful and beauty. * Brand equity: The 3 green leaves on the Veet ® logo and the use of floral graphics on the product elude a natural feel to users. 2D. Internal Analysis for Veet ®  ® Veet ® Strengths Strong brand presence in Singapore market Procter & Gamble (S) Pte Ltd that manufacture Gillette series of razor brands and Reckitt Benckiser (S) Pte Ltd that manufacture Veet ® are the dominance brands in the market. Consumers trusted the brands as they provided relative good hair removing results.Strong brand equity allows Veet ® s to use sales promotion to build competition barriers that deter consumers from using private labels. Veet ® removing cream has smoother result as compared to other razors and shavers Clearly, we know the numerous side effects of using razors and shavers. Firstly, cuts happen when blade movement is perpendicular to the blade’s cutting axis. Following on, shaving of hair has been know for causing Hirsutism, a condition in which shaving certain parts of the body hair will result in hair stubbles and accelerates process of hair growth, causing a greater density of hair.Razors and shavers manufacturers through the years have been innovating new razor design to mitigate the problems but are unable to eradicate the shaving aftermath. By using Veet ® remover cream, consumers avoid the ris k of razor cuts, while growth hairs become finer. Veet ® remover cream contains moisturizing content that allows users to remove and moisture their skin at the same time. Veet ® dominates market share for hair removal cream Referring to appendix 456, the depilatories environment in Singapore is mainly dominated by razors and shavers brand (portions highlighted in orange).Following 53. 3% of the market share dominated by razors and shavers brands, Veet ® covers the next prominent portion of the market share (33. 6%). This proves that the next preferred depilatories after shaving is removal cream and/or waxing strips; and this market is primarily dominated by Veet ® . In terms of intratype competition, Veet ® faces weak competition from its rivalry brands, namely Nair removal cream, Marzena wax strip and other smaller brands that are currently sold in supermarkets and personal hygiene stores.Veet ® ’s high market shares also correspond to the net worth of the brand viewed by retailers. This implies that Veet ® distribution network, more specifically retailers, are more willing to cooperate with Veet ® in its upcoming sale promotion – since Veet ® ’s promotion will increase stock turnovers for the retailers. Veet ® Weaknesses Potential target market low expectation about Veet ® performance As highlighted in pointer three (3), consumers are more incline to use razors and shavers as they place focus on convenience when choosing depilatories.Consumers associate Veet ® with inconvenience as they have to apply the removal cream on intended areas and wait for six (6) minutes before washing the chemical away. This lengthy process as compared to shaving tends to discourage consumers from buying them. However, Veet ® ’s previous advertising campaign attempted to change consumer’s belief about Veet ® being an inconvenient product. The advertising campaign also aimed to change consumer’s focus on convenie nce to place heavier importance on the results of hair removing. Wide deviation in user’s review about Veet ® performanceRaise of social media importance will affect potential consumer’s expectation towards a brand and ultimately, affecting the consumer’s decision to purchase the brand. As a consumer engages in information search, it demonstrates her engagement with the brand in the HEM model. A search through users’ reviews in social media review centre explain that there is a huge different between the users’ rating. Some users rated Veet ® one (1) star as the brand did not remove their body hair effectively and it causes red chemical burns.Fortunately the bad ratings are neutralized as other users rate Veet ® five (5) stars as they love the product for being simple and easy to use. More importantly they love the brand because it produces better hair removing result than razors and shavers while not leaving chemical irritation on their skin . The two vast differences in users rating thus imply that potential customers still have to rely on other forms of peripheral cues to evaluate their product choices. Sales promotion will help to attract a portion of this market where consumers eventually have to purchase and experience hair removal results by themselves. E. External Analysis for Veet ® Consumer Evaluation Primary Research Method A primary research was conducted through an online questionnaire (Appendix 1) with one hundred women aging between 16 year and 35 year old. Through the survey, it will help us to gain understanding about target market’s depilatory products usage behavior and motivation. Veet ® Opportunity Veet  ® has relatively high brand awareness (Appendix 2A) According to survey results, Veet  ® products have high brand awareness. Consumers are able to recognize the product category that Veet ® belongs.With the high brand awareness, this shows that advertising efforts are showing positiv e results in the market. Market Share between Razor Market and Veet  ® Market – On Par (Appendix 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E) Majority of Veet ® target market have already performed some form of hair removal procedure as they are image conscious and are concern about how others view them if they appear to be untidy. Currently 18% of our respondents have not engaged in hair removal procedure and a significant portion of this group would either consider or may not do hair removal in the next three to six months period.This highlights that our promotional campaign should not direct at this group of consumers, as sale promotion is unlikely to change a consumer’s behavior. More advertising instead of sale promotion should be engaged to encourage this group of consumer to start removing hair through Veet  ® products. With the remaining 82% of the market that has started removing body hair, we learnt that that is an equal market share between Razor products and hair removal cream pr oducts. As covered previously, Veet  ® is the leader in the hair removal cream industry; therefore we can assume that Veet ® has a market share of 34%.More than half of our respondents who are using razors mainly are very likely to try Veet ® given that there is an attractive sale promotion campaign. With a higher perceive value, there is high potential to convert a portion of the razor users instead of non-hair removal users, to start using / trying Veet ® products. Veet ® Threats Key Performance Factor: Convenience (Appendix 2F) Consumers today are leading increasingly hectic lifestyles and these cause them to regard convenience as the key factor when choosing depilatory products.Consequently razors and blades continued to remain popular among consumers commanding a combine market share of around 40 percent in 2009 with Gillette Venus leading the pack taking 75 percent of the razor market. In addition, as consumers become more sophisticated, they are turning to products that promised a cleaner shave and even opted for products with enhanced functions like moisturizing effect or catered to sensitive skin. This explains why consumers are trading up other depilatories for Veet ® air removal cream which sees it clinching the top position with nearly 34 percent of the depilatory market share. However, there is still a large part of consumers who are still unaware of the convenience in using Veet ® which is well reflected in our primary research. We saw that 70 percent of the surveyed razor users have never use Veet ® before and hence have no knowledge about its convenience. Strong Price Competition from other Razor Brands The relatively low price of the Bic Soleil Shimmer Clic compared to other brands saw the fastest growth in 2009.We attributed this trend to the slowing down of the economy last year. The treat is not high since the sophistication and affluence of consumers would invest in a more functional depilatory with the recovery of the econ omy. Summarized SWOT Analysis Below is a SWOT diagram summarizing Veet ®  ®Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s internal and external analysis: Section Three: Targeting, Positioning, Objectives Setting, Budgeting 3A. Key Marketing Problem From our situation analysis, it is clear that while there is high awareness level for Veet ® hair removal cream.Being a market leader in the depilatories, Veet ® has generated adequate awareness for its hair removing products. However, Veet ® must compete mainly with razor product brands such as Gillette. The main threat that is stopping Veet ®Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s growth is that target market do not perceive Veet ® as convenience as razors. There is a need for our campaign to address this misconception about Veet ®  ®, and to further strengthen Veet ® positioning with the product benefit that razor product cannot achieve- benefit such bladeless solution to stubble free skin.Overall, the management team of Veet ® wants to find out: â€Å"What should be changed abo ut the current marketing efforts to increase the sales of Veet ® hair removal cream? † In our research to help Veet ® in this management decision issue, we will be looking into the following marketing research problem: â€Å"How can Veet ® promote trial of its hair removal cream in the hair removing market through a promotional campaign? † 3B. Segmentation of the Women’s Depilatories market in Singapore This research segments the women’s depilatories market in Singapore using a behavioural segmentation base.We have divided the market into several segments according to the frequency of using razors and the frequency of using Veet ® hair removal cream, as seen in the perceptual map in Appendix 3. The different segments as follows: 1) The Bladers: Heavy razor users who have never used Veet ® hair removal cream before. 2) The Biased: Relatively heavy razor users who use Veet ® only on special occasions such as parties. 3) The Balancers/Switchers: U sers of both razors and Veet ® . These consumers have no loyalty to either method and switch easily. ) The Professionals: High frequency Veet ® users who use razors occasionally to ensure better hair removal effect 5) The Cavemen: Non-users of hair removal products. These are hairy ‘monsters’ who have never shaved and also includes those who are ‘hairless’ and do not need to shave. 6) The Un-conventional: Non-users of razors and Veet ® but who are users of other hair removal methods such as waxing and lasers. 7) The No Bleeders: Our Veet ® lovers. 3C. Our Target Market Out of the different segments, we have decided to select ‘The Bladers’ as our target market for Veet ® hair removal cream.This is primarily due to the relative ease of conversions of ‘The Bladers’ into users of Veet ® hair removal cream, as compared to ‘The Cavemen’ who are non-users of hair removal products. ‘The Bladers’ alread y have a desire to remove hair, whereas â€Å"The Cavemen† do not even see a need to remove hair. This was based on our survey results, where we found out that there is quite a low percentage, 18%, of non-users who are willing to use hair removal products in the first place (Appendix 2D).However, there is a much more optimistic percentage, 58%, of current users of shavers who are likely or very likely to try hair removal creams since they already have a desire to remove body hair (Appendix 2E). Moreover, the market size for current users of razors is 32. 8% (Appendix 2C) while that of current non-users of hair removal products is only 18% (Appendix 2B). With a larger market, there is a greater potential to tap upon in the current market for users of razors. In addition, we did a targeting specified by personification for ‘The Bladers’.This person would represent the typical non-Veet ® user whom we hope to convert into a Veet ® user. Her profile is seen below: * Name: Rachel Quek * Age: 27 * Occupation: Marketing Executive * Hobby: Loves shopping, online shopping, going to the beach, clubbing, social networking * Personality: Fun, image-conscious, highly regards others’ opinions on her appearance, has a fear for pain * Shopping behavior for personal product: Loves trying products before deciding to buy * Current hair removal method: Uses Gillette Venus because of convenience * Monthly expenses on personal grooming: $300 Time spent on personal grooming daily: 2 hours on weekdays, 3 hours on weekends * Dressing habits: Frequently in dresses and above-knee skirts 3D. Positioning Statement Our positioning statement is: For women in Singapore who currently shave, who now seek a painless, smoother & longer-lasting hair removing effect; Veet ® is a bladeless hair removal product that moisturizes your skin – a total beauty experience that no woman should miss out on. 3E. Objective SettingThere is already high awareness of Veet ® hair removal cream in the women’s depilatories market in Singapore, with 95% of the market being aware of it (Appendix 2A). Yet, only 27. 9% of the market uses it (Appendix 2C). Through the implementation of our one-year campaign, we hope to be able to see an increase in this market share as we move ‘The Bladers’ up the Hierarchy of Marketing Communication Effects (HEM) from the ‘Awareness’ to ‘Trial’ stage (Appendix 4). However, ‘The Bladers’ currently either have no expectations or have a bad expectation of Veet ® where they think that it is inconvenient to use (Appendix 2F).For those who have no expectations, we want to push them to try our product through samples, creating expectations of convenience and pushing them to eventually buy since they have the assurance from trying the product first hand. For those who have poor expectations of the product being inconvenient, we need to give them samples to change this att itude and also further push them to buy our product. We have thus established our campaign objectives below: 1) To see 40 percent of ‘The Bladers’ being exposed to our campaign 2)To have 40 percent coupon redemption among all who received our sample and coupon 3) To achieve 20 percent of our target segment purchasing our tie-in promotion 4) To see 30 percent of the ‘The Bladers’ joining our contest 5) To collect a consumer database from our couponing system for Veet ® ’s future promotional campaigns 3F. Budgeting We will be employing the objective and task method of budgeting so that we can clearly specific what role each component of the marcom campaign satisfy for the brand and set the budget accordingly.The overall campaign budget will comprise fully of promotional dollars. The rationale of this decision links back to our objective of moving ‘The Bladers’ up the HEM from awareness to trial and therefore a heavy focus on promotion wi ll be a better plan. We did not specifically allocated portion of the budget for media and public relation (PR) spending since they consist of only a small percentage of the budget. They are still present in the campaign but act as a support for the main promotional campaign. Therefore they will be accounted under the under the promotion budget instead.That explains a 100 percent allocation of the S$400,000 budget to promotion. Promotion Budget Breakdown We strongly believe that it is crucial for our target segment to test our product before they can move from being ‘aware’ to eventually product ‘trial’. To accomplish this objective, the majority of the promotion budget will be devoted to heavy sampling (50 percent of promotion budget or S$200,000). A self created event will constitute one of the channels for distributing our samples and it will cost us S$10,000. We would like to incentivize our consumers as well and therefore 7. percent or S$30,000 will be allocated to a couponing exercise which will overlay sampling. A tie-in promotion with a complementary product will follow so as to induce purchase and further incentivize our consumers. This component will be given S$50,000 of the promotion budget. An online contest will also be running throughout the campaign but due to the relatively low investment involved, it will be weighted at 1. 25 percent only. S$80,000 will also be budgeting for trade allowances for our partner retailer’s involvement in our full campaign as well as slotting allowances given for erecting our point-of-purchase (POP).Our POP will be given S$15,000 in the budget. The remainder of the promotion budget will be assigned to media and PR efforts to drive the promotional campaign. (Please refer to Appendix 5 for full budget allocation) Section Four: Our Promotional Campaign 4A: Allocation of efforts in the overall Integrated Marketing Communication Campaign Advertising – (1% effort) Through our situat ion analysis, we learnt that Veet ® has very high level of brand awareness, and this is mainly pushed by Veet ® advertising efforts.In addition, the target market has relatively little target consumers who have not started doing hair removing procedure, advertising investment will not be effective as the market coverage is significantly lower as compared to putting the investment in converting current razor users. Lastly, given our campaign objective of moving ‘The Bladders’ from brand awareness level to trial level, advertising will not be effective to move the target consumers into actions – by getting them to start trying Veet ® product.However, we will engage trade promotion tools by getting our partner retailer to advertise Veet ® sale promotion to its customers. Personal Selling and Public Relations – (1% effort) As Veet ® belongs to the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) product category, it would unwise for our campaign to invest in sales people to encourage consumers to purchase Veet ® products. Moreover, hair removal procedure is considered a private personal grooming process. Therefore it is difficult to involve ‘The Bladders’ in an open environment for a hair removal demonstration.Little investment will be put into public relations as majority of the target market are aware of Veet ® usage. Direct Marketing – (5% effort) In our campaign, we will be adopting mobile advertising. The customer database will be collected through consumer’s opt in option when they send a SMS (Short Message Service) to obtain a SMS coupon. With the customer details collected, we will direct advertising messages via mobile services in the subsequent promotion campaign. Sales Promotion – (90%) Majority of our investment and efforts will be invested on Sale Promotion.Sale promotion will be the center of our campaign with the remaining IMC tools acting as a supporting role to communicate about the sales promotion to ‘The Bladders’. As consumers have the perception that Veet ® product is not as convenience as razors, the campaign will focus on changing this misperception by allowing ‘The Bladders’ to personally experience Veet ® product. In addition, ‘The Bladders’ will experience the smoother hair removal effects (stubble free), this will help to strengthen Veet ® ’s positioning. Shaping user experiences will be done primarily through sampling.With user experience appropriately shaped, couponing exercise and attractive contest incentives will be used to spur ‘The bladders’ to start trying Veet ® product. With the understanding of how investment will be made in this campaign, following is our proposed promotional campaign for Veet ® . 4B: Our promotional campaign for Veet ® Overview of campaign Our promotional campaign will be primarily revolving around bringing across the mindset of Veet ® hair removal cream as one that is convenient coupled with a plus point of better hair removal results to our target group ‘The Bladers’.The entire promotional campaign duration will be 12 months, and staged in three phases: (i) Feeling the stubbles, (ii) Long-lasting smoothness and (iii) The Veet ® Contest. Phase 1: Feeling the Stubbles Objective: Expose ‘The Bladers’ to our campaign and drive word-of-mouth As we are targeting ‘The Bladers’ who are already experienced customers in the hair removing market, they will be less likely to take notice of the convenience and added benefits of Veet ® if it is done through the mass media channels like commercials, ads or any other imagery that is forced upon them.Thus in ‘Feeling the Stubbles’, we will seek to first roll out the promotional campaign in a subtle manner with heavy sampling also known as tryvertising, by conveying the intended messages based on their experience with our product and also conc urrently incorporate mobile couponing as a piggyback to that to have a best reach to our target group. Diagram 2: Sample & Couponing Sketch The sample we will be giving out is a 30ml Veet ® hair removal cream tube that comes with the brand’s signature perfect touch spatula and tied together with the tube is a double sided information card.On the front side of the information card, it is a surface full of protruded patterns that resemble the stubbles after shaving with a razor following a tagline of ‘Feeling the Stubbles? ’ And on the flipside, it will feature our tagline of ‘Stubbles-Free in 3 minutes’ following our couponing exercise. Diagram 3: Mobile Couponing Process The recipients of the sample will be required to text in to our number with their name and identification number for a mobile coupon.The mobile coupon will then entitle them to a 10 percent discount on a full sized Veet ® hair removal cream at any of the stores of our partner ret ailer and also a contest entry chance. Each mobile coupon will come with a uniquely coded two-dimensional Quick Response (QR) code for tracking the redemption levels and from the codes to track which the efficiency of the sampling mediums deployed. The retailer will be incentivized with every mobile coupon redeemed. Sampling MediumsIn this heavy sampling exercise, we will be distributing our samples through three sampling mediums namely digital media platform, collaborative events and through our partnering retailer. The three mediums are The Sample Store, Corporate Luncheon and in the stores of Watsons. The Sample Store (www. thesamplestore. sg) is a local platform that distributes product samples online. Since its launch in 2008 it has since built a huge database of members both on its website and facebook fansite and still growing its popularity as many recognize it as one that operates on unbiased reviews that are given by members.Members who redeem any samples will receive them via mail. Other than having our samples be placed on the site, we will also want to minimize or prevent any possible clutter of the many different brands and products on The Sample Store. We will be working with the team over there with three additional features. First, we will have our product featured in The Sample Store’s blog as a new sample which members will be able to access directly to this page or link through the main site.Currently the site’s blog maintenance team has an updates indicator of how recent is the blog updated for the ease of members to track new entries. On the blog entry, there will be a link for the readers to direct them to page to grab our sample. Hello Rachel Veet ® Hair Removal Cream Sponsored Link The Sample Store Blog The Sample Store product placement Secondly on the actual product placement page, we will also be having our product be featured in the section of ‘Sponsored Link’ to further minimize the brand and product c lutter in our sampling exercise.Be it on the main page of ‘Samples’ or when members scroll through the pages of samples, the ‘Sponsored Link’ function will come in handy as it is a permanent display on the top of every page that effectively maximizes the chance of reach and redemption. Thirdly, we will also put up a special request to have our product placement be strategically located beside Gillette or any other razor products so as to have a better chance in reaching our target group ‘The Bladers’.Veet ® Corporate Luncheon is a series of collaborative events with the National Skin Centre’s Health Talk aiming at bringing these talks to the premises of 48 companies. These series of lunch talks will be done in a form of registered events in which employees register with the human resources department and there will be a seat limit capped at 50 for each session. During each hourly session, there will be a 40 minutes skin talk by the Nat ional Skin Centre’s dermatologists.Following up will be a 20 minutes product talk and interactive demonstration session by Veet ® whereby the models for demonstration will be picked from the audience. Thereafter, the dermatologists will wrap up the entire talk by testing the skin hydration levels of the models after using Veet ® hair removal cream product. Lunch will also be catered to encourage participants of the talk to clear any doubts regarding Veet ® ’s products while handling out Veet ® ’s samples. Sampling @ Watsons is the main highlight of the three sampling exercises as it is a highly targeted sampling exercise in conjunction with the ones mentioned above.From our primary research it shows that when ‘The Bladers’ want to make any purchase regarding personal care products, Watsons will be their first choice. Thus, to be in line with that, we will be making Watsons our exclusive partner for distributing Veet ® ’s samples acr oss Watsons’ good scalability of 101 outlets islandwide. Also derived from our primary research, we found that there are some complementary products that the razor-users are most likely to use before, during or after shaving. Diagram 6: Determinants of scanner-delivered samplingWith this information, we have designed a scanner-delivered sampling exercise whereby once any of these 6 items (body lotion, tights, sunblock, deodorant, razors and shaving aids) is purchased, a Veet ® sample will be automatically be presented to the customer. To gain retailer’s agreement and cooperation, a heads-on competition with other razors and shaving aids companies will be eliminated by having these two items as an exception. Only with purchase of other items on top of razors and shaving aids, will the customer be entitled the Veet ® sample.In addition to the scanner-delivered sampling conducted, we will be purchasing retail spaces at Watsons to have a point-of-purchase display at th e storefront of Watsons’ outlets. This will allow us to cast a bigger net to reach and expose our target group ‘The Bladers’ to our campaign should they coincidentally fall out of the sampling determinants during our campaign period. Diagram 7: Point-of-Purchase Display The display will be in line with the sampling exercise, seeking to convey the message of convenience being ‘Stubbles-free in 3 minutes’.Wobblers will be attached to the fixture indicating information including the mobile couponing exercise and contest entry chance. The entire Phase 1 sampling exercise will be held in a 4 months period, with the exception of the featured article on The Sample Store’s blog which can be posted up for the entire campaign. Couponing and redemption exercises will be conducted for a 5 months period. Diagram 8: Phase 1‘Feeling the Stubbles’ timeline 4B. Phase 2: Long-lasting Smoothness Objective: Build brand associations of better hair rem oving effect and experience After exposing our target group to the campaign in Phase 1, Phase ‘Long-lasting Smoothness’ will seek to build brand associations of Veet ® as one that provides a the total hair removing effect and experience. To be in line with that, we will be partnering with Vaseline a brand that is known for its long heritage of body lotions and the effectiveness of hydrating skin, bringing a great boost to both brands when seen as complementary products. Together, we will be offering a tie-in promotion bundle which includes a 400ml Vaseline body lotion and 100ml Veet ® Hair Removal Cream.Diagram 9: Vaseline and Veet ® bundle Pricing of the bundle will be at $15. 90, strategically seeking it to be lower than a separate purchase of either items and also importantly be lower than that of a combined purchase of razors or razor refills and Vaseline body lotion altogether. Based on the respondents of Phase 1, we will be deploying a closed-loop marketing tactic whereby we will be sending text messages to the people who redeemed our coupon in Phase 1 to inform them of the tie-in promotion.Similar to the point-of purchase display in Phase 1, we will be purchasing retail spaces at Watsons to have a point-of-purchase display at the storefront of Watsons’ outlets in addition to the closed-loop marketing text messaging. This will allow us to cast a bigger net to build brand associations of a total hair removing effect and experience to our target group ‘The Bladers’ should they not be in time to redeem our coupons during our couponing period. The same point-of-purchase fixture will be used from the previous occasion to lower costs.Wobblers will be attached to the fixture will be changed now to indicating information Diagram 10:Bundle Point-of-Purchase Display including the 15 percent savings with the special bundle pricing drawing comparison with its usual price, reinforcement of a total experience of long-lasting smoo thness and a contest entry chance. Bundle packages will also be concurrently placed on Vaseline’s shelves. Cards regarding contest information will be slotted in the bundles. The entire Phase 2 tie-in promotion will be held in a 4 months period after the sampling and couponing exercise of Phase 1.Diagram 11: Phase 2‘Long-lasting Smoothness’ timeline 4C. Phase 3: The Veet ® Contest Objective: Drive trial and traffic to Veet ® Singapore Facebook page. Build brand excitement and buzz Phase 3 of the campaign will act as a overlay campaign to both Phase 1 and Phase 2. To effectively drive product trial and building brand excitement, a Veet ® Singapore Facebook fanpage will be set up as currently Veet ® do not have any adoption of social media locally. Diagram 12: Contest Card SketchWhen the recipients of the samples make a purchase using the mobile coupon in Phase 1, purchase a bundle in Phase 2 or making a regular purchase after the 2 phases, the retailer wil l be handing out contest cards for every purchase. On the flipside of the contest card, it will visibly tell recipients that they have won one chance to ‘The Veet ® Contest’ by entering the scratch code on the contest card on Veet ® Singapore’s Facebook fanpage. Every additional purchase will entitle them an additional chance in becoming the grand winners of the contest.Diagram 13: Veet ® Singapore Facebook fanpage In addition, by liking Veet ® ’s page will entitle the contest participants 5 more winning chances to the contest. The top 3 winners of the contest will walk away with a $500 Watsons Gift Vouchers each and there will also be 5 winners who will walk away with a year’s supply of Veet ® hair removal cream as consolation prizes. Such information will also be detailed on the Facebook fanpage. At the end of the entire contest, announcement of contest winners will also be conducted via the Facebook fanpage.Phase 3 will be held as a sup porting role in the entire 12 months period, concurrently with Phase 1 and 2. Diagram 14: Phase 3‘The Veet ® Contest’ timeline Section Five: Conclusion 5A. ROMI and CLV (Appendix 6) Retail price of Veet ® hair removal cream is at S$10. Our profit margin for the product is at 40 percent or S$4. We will take annual discount rate to be at 12 percent and this will translate to 1 percent monthly discount rate. We are looking at a three tiers conversion model with light users purchasing once in two months, medium users once a month and heavy users twice a month. 1. Phase 1The sampling exercise overlay with couponing will see an estimated 40 percent conversion rate in total out of the sample/coupon given out over the four months. Of the 12,500 potential converts per month, we will be looking at 4 percent becoming heavy users, 16 percent medium users and 80 percent light users. This will transit to a monthly profit of S$32,000 but a negative return of marketing investment ( ROMI) of 56 percent. However, we are projecting a relatively high constant retention rate of the converts at 90 percent for heavy users, 85 percent for medium users and 80 percent for light users.Therefore this will give us a positive customer lifetime value (CLV) of 106 percent. 2. Phase 2 Our tie-in promotion with a moisturizer brand will see a conversion rate of 20 percent. However we foresee that three-quarter of them will be those who used the coupon in Phase 1 and are returning customers. Therefore we are looking at 1,560 new converts per month from the tie-in promotion. Although we will have a negative ROMI of 53 percent in this phase, we will be looking at the same retention rate for all three conversion segment hence getting a positive CLV of 124 percent. . Phase 3 The Veet ® contest will run from the start to the end of the one year campaign and we are expecting purely new converts (not from Phase 1 and 2) only from those who picked up a contest form from our POP at our partner retailers. Since we foresee that a percentage of them would be purchasing for the contest, we lowered their retention rate to 80 percent, 60 percent and 40 percent for the heavy, medium and light converts respectively.Given that our main intention of the contest is to create hype for the campaign and rewarding the real converts who purchase through Phase 1 and 2, we are expecting to see only 310 converts per month which will transit to a slightly positive ROMI of 5. 3 percent and only 25 percent in CLV. 4. Overall The overall campaign will see a conversion of 14,730 users per month and a total of close to 60,000 converts throughout the full one year campaign. Although we will be getting a negative overall ROMI of 55 percent and a slightly high average acquisition cost of S$5. 74 we will be achieving a strong CLV of 107 percent. . Best and Worst Case The best case scenario will see us having 25 percent more conversions from Phase 1, 50 percent more from Phase 2 and Phase 3 an d this will increase the ROMI to -44 percent and CLV to 162 percent.As for the worst case scenario, it will be the reverse having 25 percent lesser in conversions for Phase 1 and 50 percent lesser for Phase 2 and 3 will see us having a negative CLV for both Phase 2 and 3 but an overall CLV of 66 percent. ROMI will stand at negative 64 percent. 5B. Evaluation of Campaign The success of our campaign will depend on meeting our pre-set objectives. To have 40 percent coupon redemption among all who received our sample and coupon * To collect a consumer database from our couponing system for Veet ® ’s future promotional campaigns We can easily track this by tabulating the number of request for the mobile coupons. As the distribution of the samples with the coupons are highly targeted at ‘The Bladers’, we can foresee near to 100 percent of the mobile coupon being redeemed by our target segment. As for the database, when our consumer sends in a message requesting for t he mobile coupon, we would locked in their numbers and consolidate it into a database.This database will be straightaway put to use in Phase 2 of our campaign where we will send them a message informing about the tie-in promotion being offered in our partner retailers. * To achieve 20 percent of our target segment purchasing our tie-in promotion * To see 30 percent of the ‘The Bladers’ joining our contest The numbers for these two objectives can be tracked when our target segment sign up for the contest. When entering the contest on Facebook, they will be asked a simple question regarding when they were first exposed to the product.If they choose either through the tie-in promotion or through the sample with coupon distributed, we would know that they are our target segment ‘The Bladders’. As the contest card comes with a unique code for entering into the contest, a consolidation of the unique codes keyed in for each Phase of the campaign will indicate to u s the number of our target segment who participated in the online contest. * To see 40 percent of ‘The Bladers’ being exposed to our campaign The number of samples given out, coupons redeem and contest details will give us a rough estimate to how many of our targeted segment was in face exposed to our campaign.Appendix Appendix 1: Questionnaire Done Through Online Medium S/N| | Options| 1| Have you heard about the brand Veet ®? | Yes No| 2| Veet ® is product that| ShampooBody WashHair Removal CreamHand LotionNail Protection CreamFeminine Wash | 3| In the last 12 months, have you done any hair removing procedures? | Yes (Go to Qns 5)No (Go to Qns 4)| 4| Will you consider starting removing body hair in the next 3 to 6 months time? | Yes NoMaybe| 5| Which of the following hair removing method do you use dominantly? Razor blade (Go to Qns 6)Hair removal cream Wax Strips (Go to Qns 6)Saloon (Go to Qns 6)Others (Pls Specify: ______________)| 6| What is your reason for usi ng the particular hair removing method? | (Open ended answer)| 7| Given an attractive promotion, would you consider using Veet ® to remove body hair in the next 3 to 12 months? | YesNo (Go to Qns 8)Maybe(Go to Qns 8)|8| What is your reason for not considering using Veet ® to remove body hair? | (Open ended answer)| About Yourselves| | Age| 11 – 1515- 2021 – 2526 – 3031 – 3536 – 4041 – 4546 – 5051 – 55| | Occupation| (Open ended answer)| Amount of time spent on personal grooming daily (Weekday)| | | Amount of time spent on personal grooming daily (Weekend)| | | Amount of money spent on personal grooming monthly| | | Where do you usually purchase personal grooming products? | NTUCGuidanceWatsonVenusProvision ShopsGiantShop and SaveThe Market PlaceOthers (Pls Specify:________________)| | What are some products that you would usually purchase with hair removal product? | (open ended answers)| Appendix 2: Descriptive Survey Resu lts (Important insights) – Total Number of Respondents: 30 Appendix 2A: Graph Showing Awareness Level of Veet Hair Removal Cream 1.Have you heard of Veet Hair Removal Cream? Appendix 2B: Graph Showing market doing hair removal 2. Have you done hair removal before? Appendix 2C: Graph Showing Type of Hair Removal Method Used by Women 3. (For the 82% of women who have removed hair before) which type of hair removal method do you use? Appendix 2D: Graph Showing Percentage of Non-Users on Whether They Will Ever Do Hair Removal 4. Do you think you will ever do hair removal in the next three to six months period? Appendix 2E: Graph Showing Percentage of Razor Users on Whether They Will Use Veet 5. For current razor users) Will you use try using Veet hair removal cream? Appendix 2F: Summary of Reasons of Current Razor Users for Not Wanting to Try Veet 6. (For those who are unlikely to try Veet hair removal cream in Q5) Why not? * Inconvenient (Most responses) * I am unsure of the eff ects of using cream * May not remove all the hair as effectively as razors * Using cream makes my skin dry * More expensive * I am used to using razors already Appendix 3: Segmentation Map of the Women’s Depilatories Market in SingaporeAppendix 4: Graph Showing How ‘The Bladers’ Will Move Up the Hierarchy of Marketing Communication Effects (HEM) Appendix 5: Budget Allocation Appendix 6: ROMI and CLV Bibliography Veet Hair Removal Cream Review, retrieved on 19 October 2010, retrieved from http://www. reviewcentre. com/reviews74276. html Veet Bladeless Razor Review, retrieved on 19 October 2010, retrieved from http://www. viewpoints. com/Veet-Rasera-Bladeless-Razor-reviews Depilatory Industry Overview in Singapore, Euromonitor International: Country Sector Briefting, June 2010, retrieved on 22 October 2010

Essay Plan Mhmi

Essay Plan Mhmi Essay Plan Mhmi Outline project To achieve this MHMI higher, I reviewed a case study based on a family dealing with a member suspected of developing dementia. To finish this project successfully I produced a plan, researched information on legislation, attitudes and provision relevant to dementia and completed course units. I developed and structured my work and produced a report that helped me understand the family’s feelings and needs. 64 Review the case study including: Plan This planning was effective in relation to the timescale as I was able to set out deadlines and pace myself ensuring I had time to reflect. However after class discussion the deadlines were revised. My work was completed and on time: to the first timescale. This gave me extra time to review my work and change if I felt I could enhance my report. Aims and objectives were done to enable me to pass the higher; however I did find this section interesting and made me think how I would actually achieve my aim instead of it being an automatic action, common sense really. I feel I met all my aims and objectives apart from book research as it was too easy to gather information from the internet also interviews were very informative. Research based report This section gave me a greater understanding of what provisions were available through community care and how this has enhanced lives. How the service user is center focus. Legislation on the other hand was difficult to grasp re government documents however several sites offered the information in â€Å"Layman’s terms† allowing the general public a good understanding of the mental health acts, and benefits available. Public attitude has changed but feel it needs to come a long way yet after reading reports through my internet searches. Was happy to see how many high profile individuals are highlighting dementia; to one day this will be spoken of as cancer is. Resource’s in this subject was overwhelming to the fact you felt you were drowning in formation so was hard to pinpoint the most relevant. Through this section I was a little confused with referencing the internet. Case study report Being Robert was easy, I spoke to my father regarding his emotions and thoughts, his acceptance or not that my grandmother was showing signs of dementia. However the CPN was more like going through a tick list after discussion with a former CPN for me this was a detached role. After spending the past year at college gaining an in-depth knowledge of care and the needs of individuals with dementia I am quite confident I fulfilled Mary and Jacks needs both physically and emotionally. During In placement I was able to observe individuals in first stages of dementia this improved my understanding on a basic level e.g. from one week to the next this lady had forgot whether she liked tea or coffee, on a cold day she came in without a jacket then when she left she couldn’t understand why she would of left without a jacket. Yes this experience helped with case study. Conclusions and recommendations (Exam) Was apprehensive prior to the exam, had enough information in my 200 words. However once the exam started with my gained knowledge over the past year and the key words I felt I was confident with the work I produced. I was very aware of the time scale and hoped I would have enough time to complete. The word count for the exam put me under tremendous pressure and this effected my concentration as was so frightened I didn’t go over and fail. I feel this was undue pressure as within a 2 hour period you could only write so much. I answered this question previously and kept my word count down and practiced handwriting this a few times to get my speed up. I would recommend

Airplane Accidents in the Media

This paper examines the amount of airplane accidents that get covered in the media versus the number of the airplane accidents that actually happen. The following paper examines how the news media has been changed from a brave, controversy-seeking faction to a community of self-censoring, congress-fearing puppets of whom the politically powerful are the puppeteers. The writer argues that the media is not the same establishment that once looked for the extra, but it is merely a reserved, timid society, a society that has ignored its once unquenchable thirst for the truth in order to satisfy its hunger for the more material things, money and power. It is a calm, cold morning in Maine and the news is blaring in one household. The family hears that there has been another violent plane crash. Little Jimmy is quaking in his shoes, because he knows that the story will be covered constantly for most of the week, if not longer. Violent images will be shown on the television that his parents bought for Jimmys favorite educational television shows. Jimmy decides to change the channel, but almost all of the channels are covering the same information about the plane crash. Then, an image of a man who died in the crash appears on television. Little Jimmy bursts into tears. Jimmy grows up to detest the news, and to hate plane crashes. Why must the news cover tragedies so extensively?

Promoting Individual Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Promoting Individual Health - Essay Example The plan is based on providing knowledge and awareness of the ethical issues associated with health and especially the inherent. In the given plan, a specific scenario of Erick is looked at. Erick is suffering from Autism Spectrum. The plan thus analyses the causes of his behaviour and seeks to link it to the causes of the health promotion as well as providing teaching lessons to his parents on the importance of health promotion, how to adapt to the current situation of their son and finally, Erick’s learning because of disability. In addition, the plan analyses the position of the parents of Erick and especially the case of Molly. The plan is very important since it equips an individual with psychosocial behaviour that affects the wellness of an individual in terms of behaviour, cognitive abilities, environmentally among many more (Rappaport & Seidman 2000, p. 171). A scenario of Erick is chosen to be used as a point of reference. Erick is a son of Molly and James. His mother, Molly, suffers from diabetes and his father, James, works as a driver, driving long distance vehicles and thus he is rarely at home. Eric has a learning disorder, though mild. He also suffers a little in the autistic spectrum. He often gets frustrated and as a result, throws anger tantrums at the fellow students and teachers, especially when he goes to school whereby he attends a mainstream school. Autistic spectrum refers to the conditions that an individual suffers from that majorly affects the communication by an individual, their interests, social interaction and also affects the behaviour of an individual (Pandora 2006, p. 96). In addition, the autism spectrum also includes childhood autism and Asperger syndrome. The condition may not show its symptoms immediately, but after some time. The condition of Eric has been contributed by several psychosocial